Absorbent barrier fabrics are known, including the fabrics described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,668,050 and 3,669,106 which incorporate a liquid impervious film and a sheet of liquid absorbent foam material secured to a fibrous base sheet. Such barrier fabrics are useful in hospital products such as covers and surgical drapes and find particular utility as reinforcements in the area surrounding the fenestration of a surgical drape. Absorbent fabrics which are permeable and include mats of microfibers and an apertured film are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,245, which also discloses that areas of the film (column 11) may be non-apertured to obtain the equivalent of an impervious patch. Other absorbent barrier fabrics have been sold commercially under the Trademarks HI-LOFT.RTM. and DRY SITE.RTM.. These comprise fibrous webs laminated to films.
It is also known to employ mats of microfibers with films to provide nonwoven fabrics, U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,242 being an example of such fabrics produced by thermally bonding mats of microfibers to films. However, neither the surface nor the internal microfibers of the microfiber mats in these impervious nonwoven fabrics have been stabilized and, thus, the fabrics are not particularly suited for uses where textile-like materials are required.
Absorbent laminates of mats of microfibers and continuous filament webs are also known, for example, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,203, the combination of these components providing liquid repellency due to the small pore size of the microfiber mat and air permeability.